Pauline Ivy Dudley was 17 when she left her parents’ home in Bronte, Oakville, in August 1973 intending to hitchhike back to the Third Line residence in Milton she shared with her boyfriend. Published accounts disagree on the exact night she disappeared — Halton Regional Police list August 10, 1973, while later reporting places the disappearance on Monday, August 20 — but all agree she left her parents’ home at about 10:00 p.m. and never arrived. Her boyfriend reported her missing the next day.

On August 28, 1973, a farmer found Pauline’s decomposed body in a field near Highway 25 and Lower Base Line, just south of Milton. She was fully clothed with her wallet nearby and partially concealed beneath hay and wheat. Investigators treated the case as foul play; a hairline fracture in her jaw was noted but, because of the body’s condition, no definitive cause of death or clear evidence of sexual assault could be established. Her boyfriend was investigated and later reported cleared; other persons were examined over the years but no charges were laid.

Police reports note forensic material was recovered and that by 2018 DNA evidence had been identified, yet by 2021 no DNA profile had linked a suspect.

If anyone knew Pauline, saw her the night she left Bronte, or has information about travel routes between Oakville and Milton in August 1973, please come forward.